French Schools in Morocco Face Backlash Over Steep Tuition Hikes

Tuition fees will increase by 1,500 dirhams per year in the schools of Casablanca and Mohammedia, 2,700 dirhams per year in the schools of Rabat and Kénitra. Tuition fees have increased from 47,620 dirhams (annual) for the 2018-2019 school year in a French school in Casablanca to 55,600 dirhams in 2024-2025. The first registration fees (DPI) will increase from 15,000 dirhams/year to 30,000 dirhams in Casablanca. In a statement, the Union of Parent-Teacher Associations (UCPE) chaired by Moulay Driss El Alaoui said it had denounced these increases during the AEFE Board of Directors meeting in Paris on March 11, 2024. It also demanded a more equitable distribution of financial burdens with the French state, particularly in the real estate investments of school establishments. Without failing to denounce the delay in the realization of the promised infrastructure projects and the reduction in educational quality due to job cuts and uncovered class hours.

Faced with the situation, the Union has launched an online petition. This petition "carries the solidarity voice of parents and aims to convince the agency and the supervisory services to go back on this unilateral decision," explains Sanae Sentissi, spokesperson for the UCPE with H24info. "Despite the opposition of all the federations and associations of parents of students, the AEFE has endorsed the increase in tuition fees for 2024-2025," she laments, adding that "families oppose these decisions that force them to bear alone the financial burdens, without any tangible improvement in the upgrading of infrastructure and the quality of education."

This situation is particularly detrimental to parents. "Parents of students in the Casablanca/Mohammedia area note the lack of visibility on real estate projects. The promised work is slow to materialize and has even been frozen for four years now. To date, no launch date has been communicated. At this rate, families will leave the system before their children can benefit from these achievements," explains the official. In addition, "some Moroccan families no longer have any choice but to withdraw their children from school since they can no longer claim the public school given the incompatibility of the two systems," she continues.

"As a federation representing parents of students in AEFE schools with the authorities, the UCPE/FCPE has not stopped transmitting the demands and the exasperation of the families, but without any result. A dialogue is indeed underway with the federations, but unfortunately the decisions go in one direction and the opinion of the parents is never taken into account," Sanae Sentissi still laments. And she concludes: "We will continue our mobilization. We will use all the means at our disposal to cancel these increases. Our community of parents is firmly determined to use all possible legal avenues, even the most extreme of them."